Since I usually cache alone, this story scares me. I would be absolutely devastated if approached and/or challenged by law enforcement officers, much less if I were handcuffed and hauled away. That said, I've always known it was a possibility -- not to be arrested, but to be questioned. I have seen a thread on the groundspeak forums that deals with cachers' experiences with law enforcement so it's certainly not uncommon.

As stated by others, this unfortunate event should serve to make us all more aware of our responsibilities in hiding caches and our approach to finding them. I'm with backpacknjack -- I won't search for one if I am at all uncomfortable with the surroundings. In fact, I stopped to look for this one on Thursday (1/26) afternoon before learning of this story. I felt a little strange, being in the wide open in such a public place, and when the cache didn't immediately reveal itself in the obvious hiding spot (already archived, but I didn't know) I returned to my car and left. I wasn't there over 2 minutes. Now I wonder if the Exxon station owner was watching me and if the police were on their way after me!!

I think some of the suggestions that have been made in this forum are excellent. Education about geocaching on a broad scale, and individual cacher's preparation for the inevitable times when you have to educate in the field, would go a long way toward gaining greater acceptance for our activities.

With regard to stories in the newspaper, there have been at least two in the Dem-Gaz, because that's where I first heard about geocaching. Maybe we could get our hands on reprints of those articles, or others from other newspapers and magazines, to carry along with us on our ventures. I keep a 3-ring binder in my backpack with printouts of cache listings on my to-do list, and as soon as I finish this post, I'm going to go add a section on what it is so I'll be prepared if I ever find myself having to explain it!

NatureFish, thanks for being a voice of reason.

Gener_Lee, sorry for your misfortune, and I hope it all turns out well for you.

TopKitty98, although we've never met, I feel like I've come to know you somewhat through your logs, and you seem like a great person. I hope this doesn't leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Again Naturefish has stated the rules, and they are true, but I'm going to state reality which has truth of it's own.

Even having permission to hide a cache is no grantee that people looking for the cache aren't going to be stopped and questioned and yes even arrested if you get an overzealous police officer who is too stubborn (or stupid) to believe in geocaching.

Let's face it wandering around looking for little film canisters looks suspicious to anyone who doesn't know what is going on, especially if you are trying to be stealthy about it to keep muggles from seeing what is going on. Add to this that there are people out there, including some police officers, who get the idea in their head that "That guy looks suspicious" and the idea is stuck no matter how much polite explaining gets done and the same thing will still happen, even with permission.

Someone has suggested getting written permission and putting it in the cache. Does this help if you haven't found the cache before the police arrive? Does it help if the police think you made the whole thing up, including the permission slip?

Taking releejr's story at face value, which I do, the only thing owner permission would do in his case would be to win him his court case (maybe!) after he has already been arrested and is out the bail money and court fees, neither of which you get back, even if proven innocent.

Getting permission is mandatory under the GC rules I whole-heartedly advocate it.

On the other hand I also advocate thoroughly educating local law enforcement and staying clear of places that continue to have issues even after being educated.

Registering a Geocache with the local police department don't sound like a bad idea. With the growing popularity of Geocaching and the current political situation, I think the sport is about to go through a growing pain stage.

I think that natureifsh great job managing things and would like to thank him and others overall.

Permission is a key issue, but in most cases hard to lock down as has been mentioned already. I have recently come accross some relevent statutes that deal with the permission to enter property. I am not 100% sure how (or if it helps the issue, but I find it relevent to where I look to hide caches and where the one in question was.

A.C.A. 5-39-203, "Criminal trespass in or on a vehicle or structure" it
reads:

"(a) A person commits criminal trespass if he purposely enters or remains
unlawfully in or upon a vehicle or the premises of another person."

Of course if all rules stated by nature are followed a cacher going to a posted site should in 99% of cases be sure he/she is not purposely entering unlawfully. The hard question come in what is ment by "Enter or remain unlawfully"

(4) "Enter or remain unlawfully" means to enter or remain in or upon
premises when not licensed or privileged to do so. A person who enters or remains in or upon premises that are at the time open to the public does so with license and privilege, regardless of his purpose, unless he defies a lawful order not to enter or remain personally communicated to him by theowner of the premises or some other person authorized by the owner.
A license or privilege to enter or remain in or upon premises only part of
which are open to the public is not a license or privilege to enter or
remain in a part of the premises not open to the public. A person who
enters or remains upon unimproved and apparently unused land not fenced or
otherwise enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders does so with
license and privilege unless notice not to enter or remain is personally
communicated to him by the owner or some person authorized by the owner, or
unless notice is given by posting in a conspicuous manner.

This does not stop a person from claiming a peice of undeveloped land that is not fenced or marked, but until the owner tells a person they are on their land they are not in the wrong. So my mistake was coming further on to his land and remaining while waiting for the police????

OFFICIAL
GEOCACHEPLEASE DO NOT DISTURBThis is an official game piece
Refer to GEOCACHING.com for details
Cache Name:_______________________
Contact Name:______________________
Contact Info:_______________________

Does this look familiar to anyone?

These stickers you place on caches have all the info listed above plus the GC logo and should suffice to identify a cache as a cache if the officer wants to actually know what is going on and ]u]the contact info is right there on the outside if they actually want to verify[/u]…..but nothing you place on a cache and nothing you say will stop an officer who just doesn’t care or who thinks everyone except a Police Officer is a “perp” or an officer who just thinks who cares, just let the lawyers and courts figure it out. It will not matter if you have printed cache pages, pages explaining caching or written permission slips or if you are polite and have a pocket full of trinkets or not. It is all up to them what they do with the power that is in their hands. Do you think the homeless people picking up aluminum cans are carrying permission slips from every land owner in the state? Do you believe police officers have NOT noticed them walking around in public areas looking for stuff and carrying sticks?

All police departments are not the same. Do you remember when 60 minutes came down and busted out a police department scam where they were confiscating gambling money and cars saying every one they stopped with cash (for casino play) was a suspected drug dealer and refused to give back their money or cars? Being stopped and questioned by the police does not mean you did something wrong, it is their job to question, just not to harass those engaged in lawful activity.

Get permission, place stickers on the outside and use good common sense in placement. Just because you went by the guidelines of someone who has never been in that area so could not anticipate every possible situation does not mean you used best judgment.

I’m probably wrong (I‘ve slept many times since then) but I think it was “Sticker Dude” who placed a template on here some where that had regular and micro stickers. G.C. sells these stickers but I advise you look closely at the shipping charges unless they have changed it, to mail you a slip of paper.

Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll enjoy it a second time.